1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a retainer for holding items on a refrigerator door shelf, and more particularly to a retainer which can be rigidly mounted at various positions to accommodate items of varying widths which are being retained on the associated shelf.
2. Description of Related Art
Household refrigerators are generally provided with a plurality of shelves which extend from or are an integral part of the refrigerator door liner. These door shelves provide for better utilization of refrigerator storage space, convenient organization of refrigerated items, and easy access to stored items. A typical refrigerator door will have specialty shelves for retaining such items as eggs or butter, and one or more flat shelves for retaining cans, jars, bottles and the like. Lateral support of stored items retained on the flat shelves is achieved by providing a front retainer or a vertical wall extending in front of each shelf to prevent the items from tipping or sliding off the shelves when the refrigerator door is opened or closed. The shelves and retainer are generally immovably fixed to the refrigerator door or door liner and cannot be adjusted horizontally to accommodate variously sized items.
A vertically adjustable shelf having depressible tabs secured at each end of the shelf with each tab having retaining lugs which engage mounting lugs provided between support surfaces of the interior wall of a refrigerator door is described in U.S. Pat. 3,682,521. Other means for removably mounting shelves in a plurality of vertically spaced positions on a refrigerator door are provided by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,917,355 and 3,029,953.
Thus, while means are known for providing vertically adjustable shelves to accommodate stored items of varying height, these devices are not capable of horizontal adjustment to securely support items of differing diameter or width. A horizontally adjustable refrigerator door shelf retainer capable of accommodating items of varying diameter or width would therefore be highly desirable.